Tea & Books - What are you reading?

So I don’t know about you, but I love to have a nice cup of tea with my books. I’ve been a voracious reader (read nerd) my whole life. Books, like tea, are best shared with other fans so I ask you – what are you reading?

I gave in to the World War Z peer pressure.
Half way in, it is an amazing read.
Before WWZ, read De Bello Lemures, Or The Roman War Against the Zombies of Armorica by Thomas Brookside, it is very well done and leaves you wanting more…

Just finished Name of the Wind and Wise Man’s Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. I was on a fantasy kick, so I picked up The Paradise War by Stephen Lawhead, which I had bought during some crazy bulk book clearance sale. Lawhead has written my two favorite historical/mythological fiction series (his King Arthur series and his Robin Hood series are unrivaled in my head). This one though? Not getting it’s hooks into me so much.

I have ~30 plays to read just for one class next semester, so I’m working my way through them this summer… just finished David Ives’ Venus in Fur (incredible, I read it in about two hours at work) along with August: Osage County by Tracy Letts and The Heidi Chronicles by Wendy Wasserstein. In terms of actual books… Her Fearful Symmetry by Audrey Niffenegger is my “fluff” book… although it’s not all that fluffy, it certainly is compared to Dostoevsky’s The Idiot, which I’m actually coauthoring a stage adaptation of! And I’m also in the middle of Richard Foreman’s Unbalancing Acts, which is a collection of essays on his (unique) approach to theatre. Not sure I agree with it, but it’s interesting.

~Ha, I always find myself in the middle of about six books at once. I just can’t focus on one at a time.

And thanks~ I don’t actually know too much about it myself, I’m waiting for my professor to email me the outline :) But it’s going into production next spring. It’s dense, but I’m really loving it, especially the philosophical aspects of it. & his views on death are fascinating.

Juggling three right now; two light mysteries: Mark of the Lion (Suzanne Arruda, post-WWI Kenya) and Zombies of the Gene Pool (Sharyn McCrumb — aging sci-fi buffs in eastern Tennessee). Also enjoying a YA sequel? pastiche? “Return to Treasure Island” by John O’Melveny Woods that is plausibly written and an easy read.

I am 1/3 of the way through Christopher Hitchins’ essay collection (Arguably)and recently finished Before I Go To Sleep, as well as the first two super-trashy E L James ‘novels’. I also went on a food writing kick and finally read Michael Pollan’s Omnivores Dillemma and Gail Simmons’ memoir Eating With My Mouth Full. I keep trying to counter the brain cell degradation I’m sure I inflicted on myself with the “Shades of” books. I have an English degree, for Pete’s sake! : )

@Jason – I agree. I read most books from the library and I had put that one on hold months ago after seeing numerous reviews and recommendations. I found it predictable in a way that made it a little boring but it was still pretty good.

Everywhere I go, I see people reading this book. I see it at least once a day on the subway or train. I guess it must be compelling even if it’s not quality literature. Everyone needs a trashy novel now and again. I read the entire Game of Thrones series and I was so ready for something light and stupid. Martin is so depressing and frustrating! Argh!

Yeah, I think that was the point where I read 50 shades myself. At some points I felt embarrassed for the author for the quality of her writing. I’m not talking about the explicit parts either. It wasn’t all bad though. I finished it and it was a pretty good overall. :)

@Mercury – I read 50 Shades on the bus one morning and then felt filthy and finished at home in secret, lol. The writing is terrible but yet I continued. I have no standards. My beau is working his way through Game of Thrones at the moment and keeps nagging me to start but I haven’t managed to squeeze it in yet. : )

I’m reading it right now, and I can’t help but shake my head at how bad it is. It’s not that it’s smutty… it’s that it’s bad, poorly written smut with zero character development. The factual errors and grammar mistakes have me cringing with embarrassment.

I got a kindle for my bay in July in hopes that it would encourage me to put my phone down and start reading more. My girlfriend insisted I read 50 Shades so I downloaded it. I managed to get thru the first book somehow and even halfway thru the 2nd, but that’s as far as I could go. You can find much better writing on literotica.com if you want to read fetish/fantasy/smut, and it’s FREE.

I just joined a book club on this site and downloaded Anna Karenina and am on Chp 2. It’s like a breath of fresh air compared to 50.

hey Stephanie, i think 50 shades was originally a Twilight fanfic before they changed the names and published it. or so i heard. which like you, annoyed me even more, because there are SO MANYWAYBETTER erotic fanfic stories out there. grrrr

@Shmiracles – I never saw Bella or Edward in Annoying Ana and Cranky Christian. I like Ana marginally more than I like Bella, but as I say, I didn’t see Twilight in the end result at all. It was worse than Twilight actually, which I wasn’t sure was possible for me. Both are too long and nothing ever happens! :)

Uniquity, i guess that’s kinda the point in a way? fanfic is overflowing with HORRIBLE characterization and bad writing. it can be a real slog to find the good ones.
(but just the fact that there is better writing all over the place on literotica and archiveofourown and that ‘50 shades’ is the one that makes it out into the public realm is annoying.)

I try to read books that have to do with tea sharing or taking tea/partaking of tea taking etc. as I use this to review on my blog.
I currently have the following on my list of reading:
Don’t Make Me Choose Between You and My Shoes by Dixie Cash…story seems to be all about Celina, Debbie Sue and Edwina wearers of Jimmy Choos.

Lust, Loathing and a Little Lip Gloss by Kyra Davis…is the story of Sophie and a tall hunk of man that she would rather have him be dead or I could be wrong?

Death on a Vineyard Beach by Philip Craig; this author is one of my all time favorite reads and my way of traditionally starting or jump-starting the summer.

One book with 15 short stories titled: Yankee Witches Waugh, Greenberg & McSherry…this will be reviewed on my blog.

Other wise I do not read, hardly ever. Folks act things out around us and makes me crazy. Or I am just plain imagining these events. I don’t exist but for the mockery of others.

Oh! I read Jane Eyre ONLY because it obviously had something to do with The Eyre Affair, before I read that. Otherwise, I don’t think I would have read Jane Eyre at all. It’s now one of my favorites and probably the reason I want to read a ton of the classics.

ETA: Also, The Eyre Affair was a favorite right up there with Jane Eyre that year.

It is one of those series, where you think you will read one book and then take a break…but then you start missing the characters.
Just when you think things are going good for a character in this book…..I won’t ruin it….

My beau has been reading them (I think he’s on the third, but maybe the fourth) and he spends a lot of time complaining about not wanting to read chapters about certain characters. Then there are others that he mourns still!

I just hope Tyrion is able to stick it out for the duration of the series. He is easily my favorite character that is still alive. He might even be my favorite anyway. I love the portrayal in the HBO series—Dinklage owns the role.